You’re in the grocery store, staring at a row of fish, trying to figure out which one is the most sustainable. Then you spot a code on the label and breathe a sigh of relief. You pull out your smartphone, aim it at a code, and presto, you know instantly when, how, and where that cod was caught — and that you can now grill it up guilt free tonight.

This is the future of food, one that’s barreling towards us. In China, with its recent spate of food safety issues, shoppers are using bar codes in markets to track down — and pay more for — chickens raised in Hong Kong, which has a better food safety record. Westfleisch, Europe’s fifth largest producer of meat, is slapping QR codes on its products so consumers in stores can track where an animal was raised and slaughtered and when it was packaged.

In part, this transition to smarter food is happening because today’s consumers are voracious when it comes to information about what they put on their tables.

via Where did my dinner come from? I want to know | SmartPlanet.

As yet this is not something I have done – though I am a fussy eater. My buying preference is based on brand trust. If its BirdsEye for instance I assume it will be better quality than a superstore brand.

What is your buying preference? Do you scan the food?